Fire Season

Star Kingdom, Book 2

By: Jane Lindskold, David Weber

Narrated by: Khristine Hvam

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Here is the second entry in a new young-adult series by New York Times best seller David Weber and the prequel to the hugely popular Honor Harrington adult science-fiction saga.

Fire in the forest – and a cry for help from a trapped and desperate alien mother! Unfortunately, this is one cry no human can hear. Stephanie Harrington, precocious 14-year-old Provisional Forest Ranger on the planet Sphinx, knows something is wrong from the uneasy emotion that is flooding into her from her treecat friend, Climbs Quickly. But though Stephanie’s alien comrade shares a tight bond with his two-legs, whom he knows as Death Fang’s Bane, he cannot communicate directly to her the anguished call from one of his people. Still, their strong and direct bond of feeling may be enough. Stephanie and fellow ranger Karl Zivonik respond to Climbs Quickly’s rising waves of distress.

Fire season on the pioneer world of Sphinx has begun. But there are those who want to use the natural cycle of the planet for personal gain – and to get rid of the one obstacle that stands in the way of acquiring even greater land and power on Spinx: the native treecats.

Now it's up to Stephanie and Climbs Quickly, along with their friends, family, and allies, to prevent disaster and injustice from befalling a treecat clan. But in the process, Stephanie must be certain to preserve the greatest secret all. It is the knowledge that the treecats of Sphinx are not merely pets or servants, but are highly intelligent in their own right – that they are a species fully deserving of rights, respect, and freedom. And keeping the secret that will allow the treecats time to develop a mutually beneficial relationship with humankind all begins with the friendship of a girl and her treecat.

©2012 Words of Weber, Inc. & Obsidian Tiger, Inc. (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Engaging and entertaining

This is a great sequel to the first book in the story. It shows how the main characters grow and mature in a realistic and engaging way. The two perspectives of the humans and the tree cats continue to enhance the tension and excitement in the story. I can't wait to read/listen to the last book!!!

Fire Season

Where does Fire Season rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It ranks among the best that I have listened to.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Fire Season?

Honestly the entire story.

Which scene was your favorite?

The scene where Stephanie is learning to fly an air car.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When over tree cats started to accept the two lets.

Any additional comments?

Great addition to the works of David Weber.

good juvenile (young primary characters)

fun short listen. young characters and world view. introduces primary players for this cycle.

similar to Honor Herrington cycle with a strong female lead accomplishing "impossible" things with help from her cat and friends.

Fire Season Book 2

I like the series with the cats which is a new twist in this genre. Too short but it is aimed at young adults. I hope to see more in this series. Not a bad listen at all and a nice other world series. One for the whole family to enjoy on a road trip!

Youthful beginnings for the Harrington line!

Would you listen to Fire Season again? Why?

Yes, good enough story. When listening as opposed to reading if the story is good enough then with a 2nd listen you pick up much more detail and nuance.

What other book might you compare Fire Season to and why?

A good 2nd book to this new series. It is a nice depature from the tedium of some of the space travel details of the Honor series. Much lighter fair with a much more simplistic narrative, but then again this is directed toward younger readers.

What about Khristine Hvam’s performance did you like?

Very nice, good match to the protaganist. Some of the tertiary characters voices get harder to pick out on occasion.

Any additional comments?

Good young reader work.

One of the books that I reread once a year

I love all of the Honor verse, but stories about tree cats are the best. Will reread them often.

Excellent story

Well crafted and portrayed story with deeply developed characters. I look forward to more stories

Bring tissues

No, it's not a cover-to-cover tear jerker but the last chapter or two got to me. We need to convince DW to shoot out some more of these. One more and it's the end of the series.

enjoyable listening

Once again I have enjoyed listening to this book, giving the readers and listeners more information on how the treecats and humans are getting to know about each other. Trust must be earned.

Honorverse completists, yes. Others, maybe.

I hesitated over what rating to give this. I don't want to give it a bad rating, but I didn't really feel like it deserved 4 stars. I guess if I could have, I would have given it 3.5 stars.

This book is aimed at "young adults" (read: teenagers). I am not a teenager. I'm in my 60s. There are some young adult books and series that I practically adore. One of my favorites, which I wish Audible would get, is the Thief of Eddis series by Megan Whalen Turner. But there are other young adult books that don't really intersect my interests. This book sort of wavered around that border.

For example, part of the dramatic tension of the story revolved around how to deal with another teenager who is rude and conceited. (Yawn) I recognize that this is going to matter a lot more to teens than to me. Luckily, much of the story revolved around problems I could get more excited about, i.e. forest fires. (I don't think I'm giving away too much here since the title of the book is.....just saying.)

Another problem: Just how much of this book did David Weber write? I have heard of book collaborations where both authors worked on every page together. I have also heard of pseudo-collaborations where the big name author gave the little name author a basic plot outline and then walked away, but still got top billing because he was the BIG NAME. I think I detect a lot more Jane Lindskold than David Weber in this book. That isn't horrible because she isn't a horrible writer. But she isn't David Weber either. And face it, I could be wrong. It does happen from time to time.

Bottom line: Do I feel like I wasted my credit? No. Will I buy the next book in this series? Uh....probably.